Facebook also announced it had launched its Nigerian SME Council, the first of its kind to launch on the continent. The company is not the only major multinational tech firm getting more involved in the African startup space, with Google picking three companies from the continent to take part in its Launchpad accelerator in November.

A black Friday

Nonetheless, ecommerce activity is hotting up on the continent, with Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom the latest to join the party with the launch of online store Masoko. Existing companies are also tweaking their offerings, including the pan-African Jumia, which launched physical shops for its travel service and also launched beverage-ordering service Jumia Party.